Harry Rintoul (December 9, 1956 - January 14, 2002) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

playwright and theatre director. He was best known for his 1990 play ''Brave Hearts'', which was noted as one of the first significant

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

-themed plays in Canadian theatre history to be written by a heterosexual writer, and one of the first ever to address gay themes in a rural setting outside of the traditional gay urban meccas of

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Early life

Born in

Canmore, Alberta Canmore is a town in Alberta, Canada, located approximately west of Calgary near the southeast boundary of Banff National Park. It is located in the Bow Valley within Alberta's Rocky Mountains. The town shares a border with Kananaskis Countr ...

, Rintoul moved to

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

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in childhood. As a young adult he moved to Regina,

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

for a time, during which he began writing ''Brave Hearts'', but then moved back to Winnipeg and founded

Theatre Projects Manitoba Theatre Projects Manitoba (TPM) is a professional theatre company based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It was founded in 1990 by playwright Harry Rintoul in response to the perceived need for a strong local professional company to provide opportunities fo ...

Career

The first production of ''Brave Hearts'' was staged by

Buddies in Bad Times Buddies in Bad Times Theatre is a Canadian professional theatre company. Based in Toronto, Ontario and founded in 1978 by Matt Walsh, Jerry Ciccoritti, and Sky Gilbert, ''Buddies in Bad Times'' is dedicated to "the promotion of queer theatrical e ...

in Toronto, where it was a Dora Mavor Moore Award nominee for Outstanding New Play, Small Theatre Division in 1991. In 1992 ''Brave Hearts'' was included in ''Making Out'', the first significant anthology of gay-themed Canadian plays, alongside works by

David Demchuk David Demchuk is a Canadian playwright and novelist,"Demchuk, David"
''Canadian Theatre En ...

Sky Gilbert Schuyler Lee (Sky) Gilbert Jr. (born December 20, 1952) is a Canadian writer, actor, academic and drag performer. Born in Norwich, Connecticut, he studied theatre at York University in Toronto, Ontario, and at the University of Toronto Th ...

Daniel MacIvor Daniel MacIvor (born July 23, 1962) is a Canadian actor, playwright, theatre director, and film director. He is probably best known for his acting roles in independent films and the sitcom ''Twitch City''. Personal MacIvor was born in Sydney, Nov ...

Colin Thomas Colin Thomas is a Canadian writer from Vancouver, British Columbia. He is known as a longtime theatre critic for ''The Georgia Straight'', an alt-weekly, serving 30 years until 2016. In addition, Thomas has written original plays for young audienc ...

and Ken Garnhum; in 2006, it appeared in the anthology ''Perfectly Abnormal: Seven Gay Plays'', alongside plays by

Greg Kearney Greg Kearney is a Canadian writer. He was a humour columnist for '' Xtra!'' from 1999 to 2005, and published his debut short story collection ''Mommy Daddy Baby'' in 2004. Born in Kenora, Ontario,Shawn Postoff Shawn may refer to: *Shawn (given name) *Shawn (surname) See also * Sean * Shaun Shaun is an anglicized spelling of the Irish name Seán. Alternative spellings include Shawn, Sean and Shawne. Notable persons with the given name include: Peop ...

, Christian Lloyd,

Greg MacArthur Greg MacArthur (born 1970 in Lindsay, Ontario)"MacArthur, Greg"
Canadian Theatre Encyc ...

Ken Brand Ken Brand is a Canadian playwright from Winnipeg, Manitoba.Glenn Sumi, "Gay theatre scores big with its target audience: Canada's homosexual community is large, rich and self-aware -- and playwrights are cashing in on it. Who cares if the critics d ...

and

Michael Achtman Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and ...

. Rintoul's other plays included ''Life and Times'', ''Refugees'', ''Montana'', ''Jack of Hearts'', ''Between Then and Now'', ''The Convergence of Luke'' and ''Lake Nowhere''.

Harry S. Rintoul Memorial Award

Following his death in 2002, the Manitoba Association of Playwrights established an annual Harry S. Rintoul Memorial Award, presented to the year's best play by a Manitoba writer at the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival.The Harry S. Rintoul Memorial Award, Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival. http://www.winnipegfringe.com/PerformerArea/The-Harry-Rintoul-Award.aspx

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rintoul, Harry 1956 births 2002 deaths 20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights Canadian male dramatists and playwrights Canadian theatre directors Writers from Winnipeg 20th-century Canadian male writers